Antelope Valley jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first 6:37 and led wire to wire in a 75-68 win over Cosumnes River in a semifinal game at the 2014 Chabot Holiday Classic in Hayward.
After that initial outburst, Antelope Valley (11-4) maintained a lead of between six and seventeen points, but Cosumnes River (9-5) was never quite able to catch up. Adrian Francis hit a 3-pointer and Kamal Holden scored off a pass from Shelton Boykin to give the Marauders a 72-58 lead with 2:32 left, and Boykin made a pair of free throws with 48.2 seconds left to restore AVC's double digit lead at 74-63, essentially clinching the win.
Three regular starters for Cosumnes River were a few minutes late arriving to the game, prompting coach James Giacomazzi to start a makeshift lineup without them. But that can hardly be blamed for the Hawks' slow start, as the three regulars were subbed into the game after AVC's first basket of the game.
But the slow start continued for Cosumnes River, which missed its first 9 shots of the game while mixing in 10 turnovers. And though the Hawks committed just four turnovers the remainder of the half, they were never able to dig out of the early hole.
Meanwhile, AVC also started slowly, scoring its first basket only after Boykin entered the game. He passed to Izayah Doyle for the first score of the game, and then scored on a fast break and drained a 3-pointer to gie the Marauders a 7-0 lead after four minutes.
Doyle scored again and Lawrence White hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 12-0 after six minutes. Then a steal by Holden led to a slam dunk by Boykin, which pushed the Marauder lead to 14-0.
Boykin was whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim, which led to Cosumnes River's first point, a free throw by Mitchell Love. Ty'Quan Neal scored the Hawks' first field goal moments later to make it 14-3.
But then Antelope Valley started to pull away again. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Julius Bilbrew pushed AVC's lead to 17 points at 30-13 with just under 8 minutes left in the first half.
But then Cosumnes River steadied itself, and chipped away at the deficit. Donald Mims made two free throws with 5:25 left in the first half to make it a 10-point game at 32-22. Josh Johnson cut the margin to eight points at 34-26 with a short jumper with 4:40 left before halftime. A stuff by Mims off a pass from Johnson cut the deficit to six points at 36-30 with 3:35 left in the half. It was still a 6-point game when Ismail Ali hit a short jumper just before the halftime horn to push AVC's lead to 41-33.
When the second half began, Antelope Valley again pushed its lead into double figures, extending the margin to 16 points at 57-41 after a 3-pointer by White and a driving lay-up by Ali. But moments later White injured an ankle while securing a rebound, and left the game, not to return.
Cosumnes River again chipped away at the deficit, cutting the margin to eight points at 62-54 after Love scored on a one-hander with just under five minutes to go. But Boykin scored on a driving lay-up and Francis drained another three to push AVC's lead back to 13 points at 67-54. After that, Cosumnes River never got any closer than the final margin of seven points.
For Antelope Valley, Boykin scored a team-high 19 pts and added 4 rebs, 3 asts and 4 steals. White had 12 pts and 5 rebs before leaving with the ankle injury. Doyle, Bilbrew and Ali each scored 8 pts. Ali filled virtually every column on the stat sheet with 7 rebs, 8 asts, 3 blocks, 3 steals and 7 turnovers. Holden came off the bench for 2 pts, 7 rebs, 7 asts and 2 steals.
For Cosumnes River, Mims had an outstanding game with 17 pts and game-highs of 11 rebs and 6 blocked shots. Love had 11 pts plus 5 rebs and 3 asts, and Trenton Anthony scored 10 pts despite making just 2 of 12 shots from the floor. Johnson had 7 pts and a team-high 6 asts. Daylon Potts flirted with a double-double before settling for 8 pts, 9 rebs and 3 asts.
box score
Monday, December 29, 2014 - 5 pm
Chabot Holiday Classic, Hayward
Semifinal #1
Antelope Valley Marauders 75:
2-Lawrence White, PF - 4/11 fg, 2/2 ft, 5 reb, 1 stl, 3 pf, 12 pts
5-Adrian Francis, SG - 2/4 fg, 2 reb, 2 stl, 6 pts
12-Izayah Doyle, C - 4/5 fg, 0/1 ft, 4 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 8 pts
20-Ismail Ali, PG - 4/12 fg, 0/2 ft, 7 reb, 8 ast, 3 blk, 3 stl, 2 pf, 8 pts
21-Tim Gilmore, SF - 3/8 fg, 2 ast, 1 stl, 6 pts
23-Shelton Boykin, F - 7/15 fg, 4/8 ft, 4 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl, 1 pf, 19 pts
10-Kamal Holden, G - 1/5 fg, 0/1 ft, 7 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl, 4 pf, 2 pts
32-Tajee Shaw, C - 1/1 fg, 2 blk, 5 pf, 2 pts
1-Julius Bilbrew, G - 3/8 fg, 2 reb, 8 pts
11-Kenneth KJ Moffett, F - 1/2 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 pf, 4 pts
3-Brandon Ruffin, F - 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 30/71 fg (.423), 7/16 ft (.438), 36 reb, 20 ast, 7 blk, 15 stl, 20 pf, 75 pts
3-pt fg (8): White 2, Francis 2, Bilbrew 2, Boykin, Moffett
Technical Foul: Boykin (hanging on rim)
Fouled Out: Shaw 3:19 left
Turnovers (13): Ali 7, Doyle, Boykin, Holden, Bilbrew, Moffett, Ruffin
Cosumnes River Hawks 68:
10-Trenton Anthony, SG - 2/12 fg, 4/4 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 4 pf, 10 pts
15-Daylon Potts, PF - 3/8 fg, 2/3 ft, 9 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 8 pts
20-Josh Johnson, PG - 2/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 7 pts
31-Josh De La Cruz, SF - 1/3 fg, 2/2 ft, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 4 pts
42-Ty'Quan Neal, C - 2/6 fg, 3/6 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 pf, 7 pts
3-Mitchell Love, G - 4/12 fg, 3/4 ft, 5 reb, 3 ast, 11 pts
5-David Straughter, F - 1/10 fg, 2/2 ft, 9 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 pf, 4 pts
35-Donald Mims, C - 7/10 fg, 3/4 fg, 11 reb, 6 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 17 pts
24-Will White, G - 0 pts
21-Elijah Conway, F - 1 reb, 0 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 22/66 fg (.333), 21/27 ft (.778), 58 reb, 17 ast, 8 blk, 7 stl, 18 pf, 68 pts
3-pt fg (3): Anthony 2, Johnson
Turnovers (26): Johnson 8, De La Cruz 6, Mims 4, Anthony 2, Neal 2, Love 2, Potts, Straughter
Halftime Score: Antelope Valley 41, Cosumnes River 33
Updated Records: Antelope Valley (#11-South) 11-4, Cosumnes River 9-5
AVC led 14-0 after 6:37 at which point CRC was 0/9 with 10 turnovers.
CRC got within 6 in each half but never got any closer.
